Tag Archives: Jim Collins

I often use yard work as a time for self-reflection because what else is there to do while drawing shapes with a lawn mower? Sometimes I reflect on personal interactions and plans, but I also use the time to consider business activities. As I edged the lawn this week, I wondered how was it possible that some business leaders are able to leave behind a successful blueprint for the philosophy and culture that drive and define an organization. This isn’t a new question, but it’s a thought many business leaders go through on their professional journeys. Jim Collins spent an entire book on the subject in Built to Last. He discusses how companies find enduring success. More on that in a minute.

The antagonist.

As if by fate, I read a story tonight on NPR.com about implicit egotism that links to a study published by the Harvard Business School (HBS) called the Ikea Effect. The Ikea Effect suggests we have a preference for and place greater value on things we personally create. The HBS paper adds, “labor leads to increased valuation only when labor results in successful completion of tasks.” Meaning, when we are successful in a task, we tend to place a greater value on our creation than something someone else created.

I quickly realized the Ikea Effect told me something I’ve already observed and participated in during my professional career. Typically, new leaders and managers bring their way of doing things to a company. They want to establish a change in the company by doing what worked for them in the past. Maybe they were hired for the purpose of bringing change to the organization. On the flip-side, I bet you could think of some successful companies that started failing after a change in executive management. Considering the Ikea Effect and the thought of enduring greatness and consistency, the antagonist may very well be me!

Grow leaders from within.

One of the principles of the Toyota Production System is to “Grow leaders who thoroughly understand the work, live the philosophy, and teach it to others.” We read this same finding in Jim Collins’ books Built to Last and Good to Great. A key observation from Collins, is companies that found success spanning multiple leaders most often promoted insiders to the CEO position. Constancy of purpose, culture, and philosophy is a key ingredient to enduring success.

Know thyself.

My take-away from tonight’s mental exercise is to look and reflect on the Ikea Effect in my own decision making. Am I prone to shut-out other ideas because I didn’t create them? Am I over-valuing methods, procedures, and systems I created? Can I create sustainable systems that will be maintained by those who succeed my position in the company? The Toyota Production Systems uses the phrase “the right process produces the right results.” So success is not about what I create or what you create. But it’s more about results that are right for the company or organization.

Processes, processes, processes, what’s the purpose of all the processes that govern our lives? They certainly have merit and can aid us in many ways:

They create repeatable steps that deliver consistent output.

They should be derived from critical thinking which avoids hasty decisions.

They optimize a flow of work to create a product or service.

They allow quality to be ‘baked in‘ by having steps check for mistakes or by making sure output meets standards and quality requirements.

They usually involve multiple people which produces output with a greater diversity of thought and establishes communication between people.

But processes can also hinder our lives and daily routines:

Sometimes they introduce unnecessary delays waiting for approvals.

They allow people to shirk work. “That’s not my job” or “We don’t provide that service”

They can stifle innovation because people are not free to make decisions to make their product or service better. I’m referring to instances when something happens outside the normal or expected boundaries of a process. Does the worker have the freedom to satisfy the customer?

They may have unnecessary repeated steps.

They may have delays or wait times in which no work is being accomplished.

Who is responsible for maintaining and improving processes within the workplace? Even the most well intentioned or once efficient process may fall out of bounds over time. Requirements, external inputs, or people may change which could have an influence on the process output. W. Edwards Deming wrote in his book “The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education
” that it is management’s job direct the efforts of their organization towards the aim of the system. The first step according to Deming is to make sure that everyone understands the processes and the system.

Jim Collins in his book “Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t” states that “Bureaucratic cultures arise to compensate for incompetence and lack of discipline, which arise from having the wrong people on the bus. A culture of discipline involves a duality On the one hand, it requires people who adhere to a consistent system; yet, on the other hand, it gives people freedom and responsibility within the framework of the system.”

I agree with the thoughts of Collins and Deming. It is the job of management to monitor and maintain the output of the process. While workers use a process to perform work, management has oversight to view results and authorize corrective action. Yet some managers choose not to improve a process because they don’t want to change the status quo as it might call attention to themselves. If the results are worse, then they will be held accountable and look bad. I think they find safety behind the existing process whether it works efficiently or not. Yet processes that are left unturned can lead to results that are not superior and ultimately reflect on the ability of the manager to produce.

Organizational managers hiding behind a process need to get over themselves.

Processes create a safety net for some decision makers because they are accepted by the organization. They wouldn’t think of challenging the status quo. Yet the process itself may be leading people to actions that are detrimental to the overall health of the organization.

To help organizations provide better products and services, managers should be involved with managing processes for greater efficiency. Here are four steps for process monitoring and improvement:

Know what processes your staff are following

Have a flow chart printed

Understand the reason for each step

Look for steps that can be eliminated

Redundant steps. This could be the same step performed by multiple people or the same step performed multiple times.

Don’t produce output that contributes to the system goal

Reduce or eliminate wait times if possible

Waiting for external inputs

Waiting for approvals

Waiting for other steps to finish

Give those closest to the work the ability to make decisions as long as they stay in the boundaries of producing the goal.

They are the subject matter experts

They may be the front line with your customer.

Increases innovative ideas.

Provides ownership/responsibility.

Increases critical thinking

Doing this will increase your likelihood of success because your processes will stay in tune with keeping customers happy. Your employees will stay motivated and find greater job satisfaction.